I never thought that anything could ever top that weekend. Meeting my idol and my favorite NASCAR driver twice in a span of 24 hours and I never stopped smiling. Pretty sweet, right? Well, this past weekend eclipsed that weekend in Dover, hands down!
The 2014 NASCAR season is officially over with the notable exception of the Championship Banquet. What kind of year was it? With the multitudes on talk radio praising the new format for determining a champion, what does the rest of NASCAR Nation think? This reporter has a “wait and see” attitude on the format, but that comes later.
As the Florida sun faded to darkness at Homestead-Miami Speedway and a first-time champion was crowned, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the season’s final race, the Ford EcoBoost 400.
It’s not often that a driver can double down in NASCAR but Kevin Harvick did just that, winning the Ford EcoBoost 400 as well as the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship. This was Harvick’s 28th victory in 502 Cup races, his fifth victory of the season and his first victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
While Goodyear is celebrating the end of the season in Homestead, pronouncing it a ‘good year’, they are already manufacturing tires for the New Year and preparing for new season testing.
In a thrilling green-white-checkered finish, Matt Kenseth, behind the wheel of the No. 20 GameStop/Rock Candy Toyota, held both Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson at bay to win the 20th annual Ford EcoBoost 300.
For Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 23 DipYourCar.com Toyota for BK Racing, this season has been one of firsts and lasts. One of those firsts, in the last race of the season, is that he is competing at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the very first time in his career.
In a blur of burnouts, Darrell Wallace Jr. won the EcoBoost 200, Matt Crafton won the Truck Series championship, and Kyle Busch Motorsports won the owner’s championship. Ben Kennedy also secured Rookie of the Year honors for the Camping World Truck Series.
Jeff Gordon, who fell out of championship contention last week, scored his first ever pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway and the 200th pole for Hendrick Motorsports. And with that he also announced that he fully intends to pursue the spoiler role in the NASCAR race season finale.
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet and the likely Rookie of the Year, took a moment to reflect on rookie lessons learned as he met with the media at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the site of the last NASCAR racing of 2014.
Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport heads to the Nevada desert this weekend looking to build on recent momentum as the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to the high speeds of Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Saturday’s The LiUNA!
Scott McLaughlin had a great time in the first practice Friday for the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington, and his pleasure didn’t come just from the fast digits next to his name on the results sheet.
Scott McLaughlin, in the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet, was the quickest of the drivers sporting a Bowtie during the first practice of the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington.
Max Taylor was the star student in the opening practice for the Grand Prix of Arlington, leading the field by more than a second Friday as 24 drivers in the INDYCAR development series learned the new circuit at this inaugural event.
Larson who fended off a young racer in the making and Hendrick Motorsports developmental Corey Day in the waning laps of the 25-lap feature by 0.096 seconds.
